An image-forming material for transferring the photosensitive resin layer thereof onto a substrate is known and disclosed in JP-B-56-40824 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,693) (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined published Japanese patent application"). The image-forming material is used for making printed circuits, intaglio printing plates, relief printing plates, name plates, multicolor proofs, offset printing plates, screen printing stencils, etc.
The transfer material is composed of a temporary support, a separating layer, and a photopolymerizing layer. The photopolymerizing layer of the transfer material is laminated onto a substrate, then the temporary support only is separated therefrom, the photopolymerizing layer is imagewise exposed through the separating layer, and the photopolymerizing layer is developed to form images on the substrate. In this case, the separating layer allows for the imagewise exposure in air by intercepting oxygen, which is important since the thickness of the separating layer is very thin, as from about 0.5 .mu.m to 5 .mu.m. The resolving power is not affected.
However, when the substrate onto which the photopolymerizing layer is transferred becomes somewhat uneven and if the separating layer has the foregoing thickness, bubbles are enclosed between the photopolymerizing layer and the substrate, causing inferior transfer.
JP-A-2-213849 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") discloses a transfer material having an interlayer of a polyvinyl alcohol derivative between a temporary support and a photosensitive resin layer. The interlayer is formed for improving the releasability of the photosensitive layer from the temporary support and the dissolution characteristics. However, no consideration is given to the transferring property of the photosensitive resin layer in the case where the substrate has an uneven surface.
Also, JP-A-63-309946 describes that since the sufficient adhesion of a transferred layer to a permanent support is obstructed by the existence of fine irregularity on the permanent support or the existence of fine particles such as fine dusts on the permanent support or the transferred layer, inferior transfer occurs. To prevent the undesirable inferior adhesion, a compressible temporary support is used. This technique is certainly effective, but is still insufficient for transferring a non tacky photosensitive resin layer, which becomes tacky at a temperature of not higher than 150.degree. C. but not-tacky at a room temperature, onto a permanent support having an unevenness of the same thickness as that of the photosensitive resin layer, as bubbles form between the photosensitive resin layer and the permanent support.